ELTA's AESA Radar Cohort: The Israeli Radars Behind Iron Dome, Arrow, and Half the World's Air Defense

ELTA Systems is the radar-and-electronic-warfare subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries and the anchor of Israel's global radar export business. ELTA's active electronically scanned array — AESA — radars are the target-acquisition layer behind Iron Dome, the Arrow ballistic missile defense family, David's Sling, the Indian air-defense Spyder system, multiple South Korean platforms, and a deep customer list across Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific. The radar family covers ground-based air defense, airborne fighter radar, naval surveillance, and the upper-tier exo-atmospheric ballistic missile tracking that the Arrow system requires.

The radar family

The ELTA radar product line is organized around the EL/M designation. The major operational systems include:

• EL/M-2080 Green Pine — the upper-tier early-warning-and-tracking radar that supports the Arrow ballistic missile defense system. Green Pine variants are export to South Korea (the original foreign customer) and India among others.
• EL/M-2084 — the multi-mission radar that anchors Iron Dome target acquisition and provides David's Sling targeting data. It is one of the most-exported Israeli radars, with installations across European, Asian, and Latin American air-defense programs.
• EL/M-2052 — the AESA fighter radar for F-16 and JAS Gripen upgrade packages, the IAI Kfir export community, and indigenous Indian fighter programs.
• EL/M-2032 — the earlier-generation airborne radar that remains in widespread service across the F-16 fleet and the Mirage F1 upgrade community.
• EL/M-2248 MF-STAR — the naval AESA the Indian Navy specified for the Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam destroyer classes, providing both air-defense and surface-search capability. The MF-STAR is one of the more capable mid-range naval radars in the global export market.

Iron Dome and the multi-mission radar position

The Iron Dome architecture combines three principal Israeli companies: Rafael builds the launcher and Tamir interceptor, mPrest builds the battle management software, and ELTA supplies the EL/M-2084 radar. The radar is the critical enabling component. Without high-resolution target acquisition at the engagement range, the Tamir interceptors cannot be guided to intercept. The EL/M-2084 is what allows Iron Dome to differentiate between rockets that will impact populated areas and rockets that will impact open ground — the discrimination logic that lets the system avoid expending interceptors on threats that do not require interception.

The EL/M-2084 has been exported in standalone configurations beyond Iron Dome programs. Multiple European and Asian air-defense customers have deployed the radar as a national multi-mission acquisition system for use with non-Israeli interceptors. The radar's commercial success is one of the most consequential Israeli defense export franchises.

Arrow and the Green Pine track

The Green Pine radar is the longer-range, higher-altitude tracking radar that supports Arrow ballistic missile defense engagements. Green Pine variants — Block A through Block C and beyond — track ballistic missiles at distances beyond 500 kilometers and provide the targeting data the Arrow interceptors require for exo-atmospheric engagement. The radar is one of the technical foundations of the Israeli upper-tier missile defense posture.

South Korea was the first foreign customer for Green Pine in the 2000s, integrating the radar into the South Korean ballistic missile defense architecture against the North Korean ballistic threat. India followed. The German Arrow 3 acquisition includes Green Pine variants.

Why the AESA cohort matters for the broader Israeli defense story

Radar is the structural enabler of modern air-and-missile defense. Interceptors get the public visibility — Iron Dome's interceptions are videogenic, the engagement statistics circulate in news coverage — but the radar layer is what makes the interceptors functional. The ELTA position in the global radar export market is one of the more important Israeli defense industrial assets and one of the lower-profile.

ELTA also competes directly with the comparable US, French, and Japanese radar primes. Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Thales, and Mitsubishi Electric build comparable systems. ELTA's competitive position is sustained through technical-and-cost competitiveness rather than market dominance. The customer base reflects the competitive position — multiple programs where customer countries selected ELTA against the US-and-European competitive set.

The takeaway

ELTA is the radar anchor of Israeli air-and-missile defense and one of the principal Israeli defense export franchises. The EL/M-2084 multi-mission radar is the target-acquisition layer of Iron Dome and a standalone export franchise. The Green Pine ballistic-tracking radar is the foundation of the Arrow system and the export of Israeli upper-tier missile defense. The EL/M-2052 fighter radar and the MF-STAR naval radar extend the franchise across additional platform categories. The structural Israeli defense radar story runs through ELTA. Olam records it.

This profile is part of Olam's Defense pillar.